How are we going to get out of this? We have an army of undead all around and god knows where we are! I know that there is little to no chance of us surviving, even if we make it through this challenge, there will just be another waiting for us. And while the enemy grows with each fallen survivor our numbers only grow smaller, and our resources dwindle more and more. What’s the point in fighting, if there’s no hope of victory?

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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Haven Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I moved quickly, and
some would say recklessly. I heard Jacobs yell out my name as I jumped through
the broken window and ran for Connor. I couldn’t lose anyone else today, I
wouldn’t. A few of the dead who were trying to break into the station broke
away when they saw me, but Lindsey had jumped through after me and took them
out with two quick shots. I was yelling now, yelling at Connor to turn around.
He did, but not soon enough to run away or fight back. The dead man fell on
him, but my warnings allowed Connor enough time to get the wrench he was using
in the way of its teeth. But that didn’t stop it from pinning him to the car,
and grasping at him frantically, as Connor tried to push it off using the
wrench the metal dug into the corners of its mouth, running down Connor’s hands
and arms.

Back at the station
things weren’t going any better, between the dead that had gotten inside and
those that threatened to create another opening they had their hands full.
Jacobs had already lost two people and with Lindsey and me running after Connor
there were only Emma, Malcolm and her inside. Malcolm had thrown some of the
wall barricade to the floor to trip up those that had gotten inside, but now
the ones outside had begun to break in. They had to either retreat deeper into
the station, or leave and take their chances outside.

After an agonising run
I finally reached the cars and shot at the zombie who was attacking Connor. I
got it in the hip and its leg crumpled, this lessened the weight on Connor and
he was able to push it to the ground, smashing its head in with the wrench.
“Are you alright?” I asked, panting

“Yeah,” he replied,
looking rather shocked. Even though we had lived through a lot these past few
months, we all still felt fear when we came face to face with one of those
things. I felt fear most of the time if I was being honest. And I felt it again
when I heard three gunshots come from elsewhere in the filled car park. I
quickly scanned the cars, eventually I found the source, it was Monica backing
away frantically from a few dead men who were stumbling frantically into and
around cars. I knew she could handle it, but her gunshots were attracting more
zombies, and she was heading right here.

I quickly turned to
Connor, we didn’t have much time. I could see the others jumping out the broken
window, we had to leave now. “How many sparkplugs did you get?” I asked, almost
messing up my words out of stress

“3,” he answered and I
groaned, we needed more than double that “but there’s another one in there,” he
continued and leant back into the engine which was now covered in blood. “I’ve
got two more!” one of the resistance men shouted as he ran towards us

“We better hope Monica
had the same luck,” I said pessimistically.

The others were getting
close, as were the dead that were following them, and now I was shifting from
foot to foot in desperation. There is nothing worse than being in danger and
being able to do nothing but wait. “Come on!” I yelled in frustration

“It’s the blood, is
made everything wet,” Connor complained, “I’m not sure it’ll still work now-got
it!”

“It doesn’t matter if
one doesn’t work,” the resistance man informed us, “we just need to get out of
here we don’t need it to run perfectly”

“Alright,” I breathed
deeply, almost grateful to not be waiting, “you two take these six to the van
and start putting them in”-

“We’re still missing
two!” Jacobs’ man interrupted

“I’m going to go help
Monica, hopefully she has enough,” as I finished talking I ran off away from
the van, towards the sound of Monica’s gunshots.

By this time the others
had all left the station, but they may have been in even more danger than when
they were inside. They had lured many of them inside before they left and now
those ones where left trying in vain to get through the window. Jacobs had shot
the first few who tried, this meant that the rest had to deal with the bodies.
But there were still many outside, and they were less grouped than the others,
meaning that danger was coming from multiple directions. For this reason they
were moving slower than I did, making sure they don’t get boxed in or surprised
by a new group. But they were running out of ammo, and the dead were getting
closer. Pretty soon they would have to resort to melee takedowns, and when they
do there’s a much higher chance of them getting infected, or eaten. And I’m not
sure what would be worse.

I reached Monica
eventually, firing a few shots at some of the dead that were out of her line of
sight. She was panting when I met her, she had been running for a while now,
and a labyrinth of abandoned cars was hardly an easy obstacle. “Are you
alright?” I asked urgently, not matter how much I wanted those sparkplugs my
friends came first, but Monica simply nodded, and pre-empted my next question
as she held out an open hand with three sparkplugs.

…

We all met back at the
van, and as Connor got the work on the sparkplugs the rest of us took position
around the van. There was less than twenty bullets between us, and only four of
us hadn’t resorted to melee. We had lost another one of the resistance men, and
now we were completely surrounded. The wall of undead wasn’t complete, and at
its thickest point was only about three bodies thick, but we couldn’t give them
an inch. We also had to refrain from killing to many of them in front of the
van, out of fear of making a blockade of bodies, preventing our escape. I have
to admit Emma impressed me here. I had thought she would be too frightened to
take on a dead men in close quarters, but obviously I underestimated what she
had had to do to survive as she took down the dead just as well as the best of
us. I still wouldn’t agree to take her on raids, but after this I felt I could
at least trust her to protect herself.

Finally Connor yelled
out that the van was ready, and one by one we entered the van. I was the last
one in, and I used my last bullet to shoot the dead man that tried to follow
me, and slammed the door shut. Connor was in the driver’s seat and he turned
the key. The moment before it started was like a nightmare. If it didn’t all we
had achieved was locking ourselves in what was effectively a lunch box for the
undead. But it started, and it sounded healthy to as Connor slammed the accelerator,
trampling a few of the dead as we sped away from the station.

I sat in the back, remembering the last time I was
here, getting advice and encouragement from maybe the person I had trusted the
most, and the person I was just getting to know. I turned back to watch the
station get smaller and smaller. And I think I starting to understand how Will
had felt at the hospital, it hasn’t just that I had lost a friend, or that they
had died trying to save me. It was that I was forced to leave her there, never
knowing what would happen to her body, or if she had suffered at the end. All I
could do, was move forward.